Coupang, CJ Cheiljedang end feud to resume Rocket Delivery

Coupang Inc., South Korea’s largest e-commerce platform, on Wednesday resumed the same or next-day delivery service, dubbed Rocket Delivery, for food maker CJ Cheiljedang Corp., said the two companies, ending their nearly two-year dispute over price cuts.

CJ’s popular precooked rice Hetbahn and frozen and refrigerated foods such as dumplings and stews under its flagship brand Bibigo are now available for Coupang’s Rocket Delivery.

Coupang also started offering the Rocket Delivery service for CJ’s processed and instant foods, as well as cooking oil and fermented Korean sauces such as Gochujang and Doenjang.

From the end of September, all major CJ food products will be added to the items for the same day an order is placed, or following day.

To do so, Coupang will buy those products from CJ and deliver them directly to customers.

"Coupang felt a sense of crisis when it saw CJ CheilJedang collaborating with AliExpress while Chinese e-commerce rivals are stepping up ultra-low price offensive," said a retail industry official.

"For CJ CheilJedang, it would be difficult to give up business with Coupang, Korea's largest retailer," he added.

Since December 2022, Coupang had suspended the Rocket Delivery service for CJ after they failed to settle the dispute over pricing CJ products on its platform.

In 2021, the Korea Fair Trade Commission found that Coupang had forced 101 suppliers to raise their selling prices on other online malls, while keeping their prices unchanged on Coupang. In connection with the finding, Coupang was fined 3.3 billion won ($2.4 million) along with a corrective order.

Coupang’s reconciliation with CJ came about half a year after it resumed the Rocket Delivery service for LG H&H Co. in January, ending their five-year feud over promotional costs and selling price cuts.

LG sells daily necessities, beauty products and drinks on the e-commerce platform.

Write to Jae-Kwang Ahn at ahnjk@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article